New rules the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to put into effect would transfer much of the work inspecting pork and chicken and turkey meat from trained government inspectors to the processing companies themselves. Talk about putting the fox in the henhouse!

By continuing to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics among its meat suppliers in the name of producing so-called cheap meat, Walmart is effectively sanctioning the inevitable rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Each of these animals is capable of experiencing pleasure, affection, and joy, as well as sorrow, loneliness, and pain. Therefore, the question World Day for Farmed Animals asks is, "If we wouldn't raise a dog or cat for food, why would we do it to a pig, chicken, or fish?"

Wednesday, October 2 is World Day for Farmed Animals, a day on which animal advocates around the world hold vigils, celebrations and other events designed to heighten public awareness of our treatment of fellow beings.

The sad truth about today's chickens -- nearly 9 billion of which are slaughtered annually in America -- not only confirms our worst fears, but raises all-new concerns about their welfare... and our health.

This kind of bullying--and swift caving on the part of the House Committee--is shameless for sure. But it also suggests the conventional livestock industry knows it has something to worry about when it comes to American consumers.

You may have seen the study, with 'smoking gun' headlines, showing a correlation between severe stomach inflammation and GM feed in pigs. Take a closer look and you will see it is indeed a stinging indictment, but not of GM feed.

Solving hunger cannot be accomplished without a government that considers it a basic right of citizenship to have access to fresh, healthy food. It's up to citizens to demand farmer's markets, school gardens and sustainable agriculture.

Politicians use accounting tricks to make us think their paltry efforts are worth a damn. For one, they dilute the annual impact of climate pollution by spreading it over 100 years. If we don't make serious progress within the decade, however, what we do afterward will be moot.

Stunned by repeated exposés revealing inhumane treatment of animals, big ag lobbyists are working to prevent Americans from finding out about animal abuse, rather than working to prevent it. And now Orwellian euphemisms are being pushed as so-called solutions?

Is it up to the consumer, the farmer, or the state to determine what constitutes animal cruelty? Abuse is inherent in the making of the factory farm, and it's the publics' right to see it, and decide if they can stomach the level at which it's happening.